Expert Citizens and Family Focus Staffordshire have partnered to deliver Stoke-on-Trent’s first Family Focused Community of Practice. The first meeting will take place in early May, but there has been lots of work going on behind the scenes to ensure this project truly centres the experience of the whole family.

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On Tuesday 30th April we hosted a get together for Expert Citizens (EC) and Family Focus (FF) to get together, share experiences and ideas, and play with pipe cleaners. The event was attended by EC volunteers, staff and directors, and FF CEO, staff and families who are currently supported by FF in different ways.

Co-production is a cornerstone of ECs’ philosophy and delivering authentically co-produced projects is our passion. The voice of lived experience is central to co-production because it places lived experience on an equal footing with professional opinion and academic research.

Involving people with lived (and learned) experience goes beyond gathering feedback and consultation, and actively involves people in decision making and delivery of projects. It is a strengths-based approach that focuses on what’s strong in the group and encourages people to use their skills, and develop new ones, in a safe and supportive space.

This is only the beginning of this partnership and there are many more conversations to be had, but if there’s one thing we know, it’s that everyone needs to have the opportunity to sit at the table and talk about what’s important to them with respect to family support in Stoke-on-Trent.

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